6 min
QNews for May 26th 2024 Q-News AR News from Queensland
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- Hobbies
Sad news to impart that Alan Stephenson, formerly VK4PS, life member of The Townsville Amateur Radio Club Inc. went Silent Key peacefully during the early hours of Thursday morning, 23rd May, 2024.
Alan's passing brings an end to a massive contribution to Amateur Radio and the community at large. Alan was instrumental in forming the communications section of the Townsville Civil Defence organisation in the early 1970s and continued to be a comms section leader when that organisation changed into the Townsville division of the Queensland SES.
He was instrumental in obtaining the location of the Amateur Radio Site at Mount Stuart and the current Club Rooms at the SES HQ, supporting training through the club during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, was comms support leader for the Club assisting community organisations run events safely through the power of radio and assisting radio amateurs in their experiments.
Alan was a 6metre band pioneer in North Queensland back when you had to convert ex-miltary or commercial rigs to 50MHz and his home in Little Street Belgian Gardens was a hub in the region for long distance communications.
Alan was the first Technical Officer for Community Radio 4TTT-FM and was instrumental in establishing the studios in the Townsville CBD and the transmitting site at Mount Stuart. Alan also masterminded the power and tower upgrade for the community broadcaster and also helped get the Burdekin's community broadcaster Sweet-FM on the air.
Hello, I’m Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I’ve been thinking.
There are many things used as team building exercises and they range from the plain to the bizarre, it seems. One thing that just about everyone has made at some time is a list. Whether it is getting all the groceries or planning what to take on a trip or ordering parts for some project, most of of us have had practice in putting together a list.
Now if we think back a few years, most of us will remember that the American Amateur Relay League, the ARRL, ran a very successful campaign to attract new members with the tag of “We do that”. With the benefit of some professional advertising, posters and other material got the message out that the amateur radio service was involved in far more things than just pounding brass or rag chewing.
So this is where the list comes in. There are the obvious things that go with participation in AR such as self education but when we put our heads together, just how many activities do we really encompass? As the nights get colder, here is something that a group can do in person or over the air as a way of showing others just how broad based our activities can be. Perhaps someone can sponsor a competition for the longest list of activities that hams do….
Now apart from providing some engrossing mental stimulation there is more to this idea of list making than first thoughts suggest. We like to feel proud and involved in the various things that we do and one way of spreading the word about amateur radio is often the opportunity that casual conversations offer. When we meet someone and exchange greetings, the topics tend to spread and recreation plays an important part in feeling good and supporting mental health too.
When we learn of the other person’s interests it is great to share some knowledge when we can say, “We do that too.” Of course, part of enjoying a good conversation is being able to listen to what the other person says and then being able to say something positive about the subject.
The fact that a few people put their heads together and wrote a list gives the memory the jog to respond to what is said and shows we aren’t just filling the gaps with meaningless words. That list helps make us more interesting too.
So how about we apply a little brain power to this area of interest and be able to say, “We do that too?”
I’m Geoff Emery VK4ZPP and that’s what I think….how about you?
Sad news to impart that Alan Stephenson, formerly VK4PS, life member of The Townsville Amateur Radio Club Inc. went Silent Key peacefully during the early hours of Thursday morning, 23rd May, 2024.
Alan's passing brings an end to a massive contribution to Amateur Radio and the community at large. Alan was instrumental in forming the communications section of the Townsville Civil Defence organisation in the early 1970s and continued to be a comms section leader when that organisation changed into the Townsville division of the Queensland SES.
He was instrumental in obtaining the location of the Amateur Radio Site at Mount Stuart and the current Club Rooms at the SES HQ, supporting training through the club during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, was comms support leader for the Club assisting community organisations run events safely through the power of radio and assisting radio amateurs in their experiments.
Alan was a 6metre band pioneer in North Queensland back when you had to convert ex-miltary or commercial rigs to 50MHz and his home in Little Street Belgian Gardens was a hub in the region for long distance communications.
Alan was the first Technical Officer for Community Radio 4TTT-FM and was instrumental in establishing the studios in the Townsville CBD and the transmitting site at Mount Stuart. Alan also masterminded the power and tower upgrade for the community broadcaster and also helped get the Burdekin's community broadcaster Sweet-FM on the air.
Hello, I’m Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I’ve been thinking.
There are many things used as team building exercises and they range from the plain to the bizarre, it seems. One thing that just about everyone has made at some time is a list. Whether it is getting all the groceries or planning what to take on a trip or ordering parts for some project, most of of us have had practice in putting together a list.
Now if we think back a few years, most of us will remember that the American Amateur Relay League, the ARRL, ran a very successful campaign to attract new members with the tag of “We do that”. With the benefit of some professional advertising, posters and other material got the message out that the amateur radio service was involved in far more things than just pounding brass or rag chewing.
So this is where the list comes in. There are the obvious things that go with participation in AR such as self education but when we put our heads together, just how many activities do we really encompass? As the nights get colder, here is something that a group can do in person or over the air as a way of showing others just how broad based our activities can be. Perhaps someone can sponsor a competition for the longest list of activities that hams do….
Now apart from providing some engrossing mental stimulation there is more to this idea of list making than first thoughts suggest. We like to feel proud and involved in the various things that we do and one way of spreading the word about amateur radio is often the opportunity that casual conversations offer. When we meet someone and exchange greetings, the topics tend to spread and recreation plays an important part in feeling good and supporting mental health too.
When we learn of the other person’s interests it is great to share some knowledge when we can say, “We do that too.” Of course, part of enjoying a good conversation is being able to listen to what the other person says and then being able to say something positive about the subject.
The fact that a few people put their heads together and wrote a list gives the memory the jog to respond to what is said and shows we aren’t just filling the gaps with meaningless words. That list helps make us more interesting too.
So how about we apply a little brain power to this area of interest and be able to say, “We do that too?”
I’m Geoff Emery VK4ZPP and that’s what I think….how about you?
6 min